Format: Paperback

If a book is billed as a romance novel but the romance isn’t the most memorable part of the novel, either the romance sucks or the story is so well developed that it punches much higher than typical for its genre. For me Beach Read falls into the latter category with such strong characterization and plot development that the romance sits comfortably in the backseat for most of the ride. There’s certainly a lot of romantic beats and some spicy scenes, but I found myself far more engrossed with both characters’ narratives and how they play off and almost heal from their broken pasts together. The plot is genius pairing off two authors with polar opposite styles and reversing them both in their professional work and in their personal lives. While there’s plenty of hilarious hijinks, Emily Henry’s sarcastic and snappy character banter elevates the material while still keeping the dialogue smart and witty (which I’m learning is the norm after also reading Book Lovers last month). I also thought the leads are both well-developed with elaborate backstories and upbringing and have great chemistry. I often find romance leads to either be too emotionally volatile and dramatic or stereotypically too…

Note: The following original review for this book is old and does not meet current review standards. A fully rewritten review is planned. A Holiday TV-movie taken straight off ABC family given a queer spin with harder hits and surprisingly solid pacing, in Boy Meets Boy #2 Janovsky takes everything that was good in #1 and refines it. While I enjoyed the first book in the series, I sometimes felt like I was over-scoring it because of how cute and breezy it felt vs directly looking at its objective qualities. This one beefs up all of the weaker elements with better execution. The pacing is better, characters (especially the side characters) are more developed and complex, the overarching plot being more compelling and involved, I was pleasantly surprised given how predictable most holiday fairs can be. There are still the usual tropes of a Grinch warming to the holiday cheer but the plot twists and it’s conclusion help elevate the material beyond simply being cute. It also helps that the comedy is cranked up to an 11 thanks to the protag’s overdramatic spoiled rich boy persona. The first 50 pages of diva material can be off-putting but we love a good…

A Hugo award winner, this novel is classic sci-fi through and through and a fond callback to when sci-fi stories were less focused on immense world-shattering or convoluted epics and were instead more grounded while presenting various “what if’s”. While there is a plot involving the status and future of Way Station, an intergalactic stop/rest point similar in purpose to a bus transfer station, the bulk of the book is more abstract in nature. Rather than immediately delving into Enoch Wallace’s tale of an “immortal” Civil War veteran chosen as a caretaker for this Way Station, it presents various short stories of Enoch’s counters with both the extraterrestrial and (surprisingly more threatening) humans that encourage you to think about what it is that makes up the human existence and frame of mind. As an 120+ yr old veteran (returned my library copy, can’t recall exactly what yr this took place) who has had more interactions with intergalactic travelers vs humans, there’s a lot of interesting commentary layered with each story that cover topics from language, isolation, culture, bits of existential crisis, and the self-destructive nature of of human kind and war. Despite the topics, Simak’s writing style is still an…

I am obviously far from the target reader demographics this book is intended for but I still found it to be an pleasant, if not predictable read. It’s a comforting feel-good romance novel ironically focusing on a protag who believes love is dead after being betrayed and taken advantage of by a insensitive ex/aspiring author. I’m not a typical fan of the romance novel genre so take my opinions with a grain of salt, but I picked this up based on intriguing synopsis and the extended pun on “romance is dead.” Also the concept of a ghostwriter having to write a novel while in the presence of a ghost of her editor, genius. Despite my initial excitement for the book’s concept and plot, majority of the time I wished the novel dug a little deeper (get it-) into the themes of coping with loss, healing from betrayal (both romantically and socially) and returning to one’s roots. I acknowledge the primary purpose of this book is the romance, but during some of the quieter moments it often showed signs of being something more profound and touching making it all the more frustrating when it settles for skimming the surface of these…

Note: The following original review for this book is old and does not meet current review standards. A fully rewritten review is planned. A classic I never got around to reading during school, as others have praised the concepts and themes hold up remarkably well. Some aspects such as the controlling history and the narrative can even be seen today in the form of “Fake News” or social media trends and hypes. I found the first 2/3 of the book to be a dry and uninteresting read where I was speed-reading to get through it (the tone and characters were not to my taste) and there’s some questionable takes on how women are portrayed (though again, this is written in the 1950’s which is to be expected to a certain degree) but thinks got a bit more interesting at a particular tuning point near the end of the book. It’s portrayal of Stockholm syndrome was interesting and complex (which is even more impressive considering the term and definition of Stockholm syndrome wouldn’t be discovered for another 20 yrs) and you never know where things will go as is the norm for George Orwell novels (apart from leaving a rather pointed statement…